Josh Jacobs can play football again, but the NFL hasn’t decided whether he’s done paying for what happened in May. The league said Friday it will take the Packers running back off the Commissioner Exempt List on Monday, Oct. 19, making him eligible to practice next week and play in Green Bay’s Week 7 game at Detroit on Oct. 25. He’ll have missed six games by then.
The league was clear that this isn’t the end of the case. Its review under the personal conduct policy “remains ongoing” and “is not affected by the change” to his status, CBS Sports reported. Whether he actually plays against the Lions is up to the Packers.
Why was Josh Jacobs on the Commissioner Exempt List?
Because of a May 23 incident with a woman at his home near Green Bay. Jacobs, 28, was arrested days later on five charges, including felony strangulation, NFL.com reported. The woman told police he grabbed her, threw her to the ground and took her phone. The league put him on the exempt list Aug. 30. That’s paid leave: he couldn’t practice or play, but he kept collecting his salary.
On Sept. 10, he pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors, battery and criminal damage to property. He was convicted of battery and fined $1,000 plus court costs. The property charge can be dismissed in a year if he stays out of trouble, avoids the victim, accepts supervision, finishes counseling and pays her restitution, according to NFL.com. The felony charge didn’t survive the plea deal.
Josh has dedicated the last several months to bettering himself, and he accepts responsibility for his actions. He is excited to get back to work and on the field with his teammates.
Jacobs’ attorneys, in a statement
Could Josh Jacobs still be suspended?
Yes. The six games he’s already missed would count toward any suspension, ESPN reported. If the league lands on six games, he’s done. If it goes longer, he’d sit out the difference. Six games is the baseline the NFL uses for domestic violence cases, and it can go higher when there are aggravating factors.
The holdup is video. ESPN reports the league still hasn’t seen home surveillance footage that shows the part of the incident in Jacobs’ garage. On Sept. 24, Brown County Circuit Judge Marc A. Hammer lifted a temporary seal on the case records and left it to Hobart-Lawrence police to decide what to release. Police said this week they’d release some records, but that’s on hold. Jacobs and the woman have both filed suits this week to block the release, and Jacobs wants the evidence sealed for good.
What does Jacobs’ return mean for the Packers?
A lot, on paper. Green Bay is 3-2 without him, but its running game ranks 32nd in the league, dead last. We wrote last month that the Packers were 32nd at the one thing they built their offense around, and it hasn’t gotten better. The Packers host Dallas at Lambeau Field on Sunday before heading to Detroit.
He isn’t the only player coming back. The NFL also took Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper off the exempt list Friday, clearing him for Denver’s Week 7 game against Arizona. Cooper’s criminal case is still pending, with charges that include felony second-degree assault by strangulation and a trial set for March. The league’s review of him also remains open.
The BeezLoop Take
The NFL calls the exempt list a neutral, administrative step, and in fairness, it can’t hold a player out forever while a court fight over a video plays out. But the timing says a lot. The league is letting Jacobs back on the field before it has seen the one piece of evidence it says it still needs, and before it has decided on a punishment.
Fans cheering for their fantasy rosters this weekend should remember there’s a woman in this story who is in court right now trying to keep a video of the worst day of her life private. Whatever the league decides, it should explain how it got there, not just announce a number.
The open question: if the NFL never gets that garage video, will it ever rule on Jacobs at all, or will six missed games quietly become the whole punishment?
Also on BeezLoop: our NFL Week 5 roundup, and the Bills’ overtime win over the Rams on Monday night.
Sources: NFL.com · ESPN · CBS Sports · NFL.com (plea) · CBS Sports (video)
